The Fifth Element
by T. Riley
Summary: Ten years after the war with the fire nation, a young man discovers a new power within himself, a power that could either save or jeopardize the world. Rated teen just in case.  Some violence
1. Discovery: A New Element

_Disclaimer Thingy: I don't own Avatar, and it probably wouldn't have inspired me this much if I had. This is my first story on here, so don't be to mean, but I do appreciate constructive criticism. _

**Chapter 1: Discovery: A New Element**

_The Darkness surrounded him, cradling him, holding him, comforting him. The Darkness was familiar to him, although he knew not why. It seemed to call to him; its essence seemed to make him whole. Yet most people would associate such a darkness evil for they associated the darkness with fear. The Firebenders could be one such race of people that would assume this, thus their inner fire always tried to light the darkness, but when the darkness was known, it became comforting. Once you can find your way in the darkness and realize that it was never darkness that was evil; is when you can look into yourself and begin to conquer fear. He realized all of this as he was cradled by the darkness around him._

"Cross, Cross… Wake up you sleepy head!"

He woke from the comforting darkness into a world of light and color, and even though he knew this world and loved it for the wonders in contained, he couldn't help but miss the comfort of the darkness from his slumber. As his eyes flickered open he noticed that something was blocking out the sun above him; that something being his friend Anara's head. Then a small blush crept up his cheeks as he realized just how close her head was to him.

"Um, Anara…" He said slowly

"Hm?"

"Don't you think you might be a tad bit close?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't even realize…" As she says this she looks around nervously hoping Cross doesn't notice the slight flush on her face, or how here soft green eyes looking everywhere but at him. He laughs softly and stands up stretching, looking at the grassy plains all around until his eyes finally rest on the girl in front of him. Anara was still on her knees from leaning over his sleeping form and was now looking up towards him, her light brown hair blowing gently in the slight breeze. She was wearing a sleeveless green half robe with light brown working pants underneath and her clothes showed some wear from the work she did around the village. She was the assistant earthbender and would help her master lift metals to the surface from the rocks they were embedded in. She fit in perfectly with the village life unlike him, who had felt urges to be gone from this place from a young age.

He wasn't the village norm in appearance or attitude. He was a complete contrast in fact, with silver hair that went to the middle of his back while in a ponytail compared with the assortments of browns and black , pale skin compared to the slight tan all the villagers had from the sun beating down on them, and his strikingly violet eyes that were a complete contrast the areas assortment of greens and browns. He even dressed differently with a dark brown tunic over a black long sleeve undershirt and dark brown working pants. Most people of the village avoided him making his one true friend Anara. They were both orphans in this world, so they could only rely on each other. Her parents had been lost during a fire nation raid soon after she was born, and Cross had been found a year or so before along the side of a trail. They had been raised together in the village temple, and had become close after Cross had protected her from a group of bullies while they were young.

As they grew up, it was noticed that Anara would be a powerful earthbender, and Cross ended up joining the village militia where he became more than proficient with double curved swords. In fact he wore the swords on his back, since they were a gift from the captain of the militia after his first successful mission against a group of bandits on the road leading to Ba Sing Sei. That was two years ago, and he had only improved since. Attached to the sword sheath was a piece of metal shaped like the cross shaped scar on the back of his right shoulder which was his namesake.

"We should head back to the village, that is if you still want dinner." Anara said as she stood in front of him

"Of course, I'm starving," he replied. They started walking towards the hill that the village was just on the other side of when Cross noticed some smoke in the air. He points this out Anara, and they both start running for the village. As they cross the top of the hill they can see multiple houses on fire and fire nation soldiers mercilessly slaughtering people. They begin running down the side of the hill and a fire nation soldier calls out. Three soldiers run up towards them blasting fire out of here hands, and Anara puts a sloping wall of earth in front of them as a shield. Cross then runs up the sloped wall and leaps into the middle of the three soldiers; as he comes down he slices one's chest effectively eliminating him from the conflict, then he turns quickly and kicks the second in the sternum, knocking the wind out of him forcing him to fall to the ground. The third soldier screams "I've got you!" before flying sideways from the same wall of earth that had protected Cross and Anara in the beginning. Anara runs up and binds the soldiers to the ground with shackles made of earth and they run farther into the village.

They head into the village taking out fire nation soldiers one by one, and make their way to the center while searching for survivors. When they reach the middle of the village, a pyre has been made of all the villagers, and the captain of the soldiers lights it. Next to him, Anara screams, thus attracting the attention of the soldiers around the captain. The remaining twenty soldiers and the captain rush Cross and Anara, and as Anara begins to earthbend, the captain shoots her straight in the stomach. She falls to the ground crying out in pain, and as she blacks out she hears Cross yell and dark waves begin to fly out from him. Then consciousness fades away…

_So what do you think? Once again I don't own Avatar, but I do own Cross and Anara. I hope you guys liked it, even if it is a cliff hanger… I'll try to update soon, so R&R please. _

_T. Riley_


	2. Recuperation and Explanations

_Disclaimer Thingy: I don't own Avatar in any way, but I do own Cross and Anara. Read and Enjoy =]_

**Chapter Two: Recuperation and explanations. **

_ The darkness cradled him once again, comforting him within its depths. Holding him tightly as if it was saying "Hear me, I'm always with you, Seek me, I will comfort you, Call on me, I will fight for you. I reside within you, I am yours." With that thought…_

… He awoke. He slowly opened his eyes trying to place his surroundings. He was lying on a bed that was much softer than any of the beds in the village, and there was no natural light coming in. He looked around him while trying not to move to much and noticed that he was in a room completely made of stone with no windows, but there was a small ventilation shaft that was presumably used for air flow. Across from the bed was a wooden door that was slightly ajar with light streaming through. The room itself was lit by candles placed in the corners of the room with the door. Then he noticed the warmth to his left and saw that Anara was slumped over on his bed sleeping while holding his hand. Cross smiled slightly before trying to raise himself up.

The second he moved his head from the pillow he was hit by a wave of dizziness. As his head fell back to the pillow, he let out a small groan. His body felt like he had gone through three 24 hour patrols all in the heat of midday. He let another groan escape his lips, and the second he did; he felt movement on his left and looked over to see Anara staring at him, now fully awake.

"Cross I was so worried, after waking up here, and you were passed out for so long, and the village…" Small sobs began to escape her, and she started to cry on his shoulder. Cross mustered up some energy and held here with his other arm until she was able to start calming down.

"It's ok Anara, it's ok… What happened, how'd we get here?" Cross remembered parts of fighting in the village; then he started to remember what had happened afterwards.

He had woken up in the middle of the village next to Anara, and almost half of the village was on fire. Anything that wasn't burning had been destroyed; the entire village was falling to pieces before his very eyes, so he followed his first impulse and grabbed Anara to carry her away. He started down the trail towards Ba Sing Sei knowing that the chances of reaching the great city would be slim since his energy was completely depleted and the city itself was almost three days away by foot. He walked for what felt like hours cradling Anara in his arms until he couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed on the trail and the last thing he remembered seeing was Anara laying in front of him.

"We were found, and they brought us here. They were able to heal me with waterbending, but they couldn't find the cause of your injury, so they let you sleep."

Now that he had an answer for that he decided to go with the next question on his list, "Ok, then where are we, and who are they?"

Unexpectedly the answer to his question didn't come from Anara, but from a water tribe warrior who had come through the door with a female who also looked like she was from the water tribe. "They would refer to us, me being Sokka, and my sister Katara. As for your earlier question, you're inside of the wall that guards Ba Sing Sei. You've been unconscious for a day now." Cross examined the new people who had entered the room; Sokka was a tall lanky man who wore a blue shirt and dark blue pants with a longsword and a boomerang on his back. The top of his dark brown hair was long and hung in a wolf tail of the southern water tribe. Katara was slightly shorter than Sokka with hair of the same color, and she was dressed in a blue robe with dark blue leggings underneath. She didn't carry any weapons on her, but had a waterskin at her waist. They both looked like they were in their mid twenties, and both had crystalline blue eyes. Then the woman spoke, "Although you will no doubt object otherwise, you still need bed rest. You have expended much of your personal energy, and can't be healed through my waterbending. Any further questions should wait until Aang gets back from exploring a large outburst of energy… Wait, that couldn't have been you could it?"

"I'm not sure honestly, I don't quite remember what happened once we got to the center of the village…" Responded Cross as he tried to remember. "It's all just darkness."

"Alright, then that shall wait until Aang gets back. For now, we should get you some food. You've been out since yesterday afternoon, so you're probably hungry. Afterwards you should probably sleep some more until Aang returns." Katara stated, taking control of the situation.

A few hours later Cross was lightly dozing when he awoke to the noise of the door opening. This time Cross was able to lift his head without the rush of dizziness, and was able to get a better look at the visitor. He was a young man maybe a few years older than Cross who was dressed in soft yellows and oranges. The clothing screamed airbender, but any airbenders at this time would be under the age of ten, unless… "Wait a second, you're the Avatar aren't you." stated Cross with a dumbfounded expression.

"Yeah that's me," Aang said as he rubbed the back of his bald head, "I'm Avatar Aang, nice to meet you. You're Cross I take it?" As Cross nodded his head he walked in and sat in the chair that Anara had previously occupied; then he continued, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the village?"

"No, I was expecting it sooner or later. Ask what you like."

First the big question, what happened to your village?"

Cross thought for a moment to collect all the details, and then started from the beginning. He told Aang about seeing the column of smoke rising from the direction of the village, to the fight against the fire nation soldiers. He faltered when he remembered what the fire nation had done to the villagers they had killed, and then recounted Anara's injury; finishing with, "…and once I saw her fall I remember a great power suffusing with my anger, and I blacked out. When I awoke, I carried Anara as far as I could before I passed out again."

I see, and that's where I found you while flying on Appa. Are you a bender?"

"Not that I know of, Anara and her master were the only benders in our village. They used their power more for mining than anything though."

"Hmm, have you been having any weird dreams or maybe visions recently?" Asked Aang with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Now that you mention it, I had some reoccurring dreams recently. They always seem to be about darkness though."

"I see, I'll have to think about that. I'll tell you what I come up with, and maybe if I figure it out, we can figure out why soldiers attacked your village."

"That's a question I have Avatar, if the war ended ten years ago, why was an earth kingdom village attacked by the fire nation?"

"That wasn't the actual fire nation army; my best guess is that they stole the uniforms to both conceal their motives and to make it look like it was the fire nation so that war would break out. They are really a group of rebels who still believes that the fire nation should control all. They are trying to bring back the war and over through not only the earth kings and water tribes, but they also with to overthrow Firelord Zuko for siding with the peace efforts. The group calls themselves Phoenix Rising in remembrance of the previous firelord. The reason my friends and I are out here is because we were hoping to find and stop them, but they have hidden themselves well. The only reason that we knew of the attack on your village is because of the outburst of energy. I'm surprised someone could muster and handle that level of energy; it was akin to being in the Avatar State. But I still wonder why they attacked your village…" Aang finished with another of those thoughtful looks on his face.

As the Avatar got up to leave Cross felt that he had to ask one last question, "wait Aang, I have to know, did anyone survive?" Aang gave Cross a sad look before he turned and left the room, effectively leaving Cross with the guilt of the actions he couldn't control.

_As you've probably noticed, I tried to make Aang more wise and mature than the show. I figured that he would have to become so because of his role as the Avatar. The Avatar and his party will come in and out of this story from time to time, but don't expect the avatar to learn the fifth element just yet (you'll find out why soon). The next chapter will be another sort of intro chapter where you'll get to find out more about the new element and how it works. Then it shall be onto the main plot of this little tale. _

_Thanks for reading, and thanks a lot for the reviews. They brought encouragement and motivation (and I'm hoping improvement.) Expect chapter three soon, I have some free time this weekend._

_T. Riley_


	3. Let's Test the Limits!

_Disclaimer Thingy: You guys probably have this memorized already, although I wonder if I could purchase rights and make this official Avatar canon. Oh well. On to the third chapter, Read and Enjoy =]_

**Chapter Three: Let's test the limits!**

Cross was standing in a small crater about two miles away from the wall with Anara, Aang, Katara, Sokka, a Kyoshi Warrior named Suki, and an earth bending master named Toph; and he was trying not to laugh at the look on Toph's face. "The earth, it's gone, not moved, not transported, it's literally disappeared!" She exclaimed. Toph was an earthbender who, thought blind, saw through the earth. She was a young woman with long black hair that she allowed to cover most of her face. She wore the basic garb of earth kingdom soldier for its mobility, and was known to be able to hang around in the worst crowds without being disgusted; in fact, most of the time she found it funny. "You were able to do this?" She asked Cross, though Aang answered before he could.

"Yes, this is the power of his darkness. It eats through anything of this world until it is full or he recalls it. I saw evidence of this at his village also, a wave of it ate through half of a building but it had stopped after going so far. Cross and I decided to test this today once he figured out how to call upon it. What we found is that the more darkness he puts into a blast, the more it eats. Also, we realized that the darkness won't eat him, which is why he was able to create the bubble that ate this crater."

Katara looked shocked "Wait, are you saying that it literally takes in everything it touches?" As she saw Aang's nod, she continued. "Then this bending is very dangerous. Wait a second Aang, if this is bending of a new element, can't you use it as well?"

Everyone else looked at Aang expectantly, but he shook his head, "No. I can't use this element as long as it is out of balance in the physical world. It has a balance point in the spiritual world, but none within this one as of yet; I must wait for the balancing point to be awakened. For now though, we must look for the rebel group and get that taken care of; for now let's head back to the wall and make some plans."

As everyone headed back to Appa to return to the wall, Cross couldn't help but think back to the last couple days. After he had talked to Aang, he rested for the rest of that day. The next day he was able to go out into the main room where he had met Toph and Suki. Most of that day was a day of rest for him again, but he got some enjoyment out of watching Toph train Anara. Toph had made Anara wear a blindfold and try to sense the earth around her. Anara kept stumbling around the training area, and there were a few times that Cross had to stifle a laugh as she tried to navigate. Afterwards Aang had asked him if he was willing to try to call his power and possibly train with it; so this morning they had set out for this area.

Once they got to the appointed training ground, Aang asked Cross to try and call on his power. Cross thought back to his dreams and remembered what the darkness had told him _"Hear me, I'm always with you, Seek me, I will comfort you, Call on me, I will fight for you. I reside within you, I am yours."_ He then sought the center of his mind that held the darkness of his dreams and dove in to its essence. "Darkness I call upon you to fight with me." Then he opened his eyes and a layer of darkness surrounded his hands. Aang then had him dissipate the darkness and summon it back to him multiple times to see if it always came at his call. Then Aang used earthbending to create golems for Cross to fight against as training. He surrounded Cross with five golems, then sent the one in front of Cross on the offensive. Cross called the darkness to his hands and stepped around the golem's clumsy punch; responding with a hit to the golem's back. Cross was caught off guard for a split second because it had felt as if his punch had encountered nothing, yet when he pulled his hand back, there was a hole that went straight through the golem. Another golem attacked from Cross's left. Cross ducked the attack and surrounded his leg in darkness as he sweep kicked the golem. The golem fell to the ground from its legs being severed and crumbled into dirt. Then two more golems attacked him, coming from both sides. He jumped up above their heads, and as they crashed into each other, he shot them with a small blast of darkness. The darkness took half of them before dissipating. Cross looked up to see that there was only one Golem left which he quickly destroyed with a blast of darkness before looking around.

When he looked at Aang, he noticed that Aang had a thoughtful look on his face. Then he noticed that everyone else had shown up while he was battling the golems. Then Toph called out, "that was very good for your first try, but can you handle this?" Twenty golems came up from the earth surrounding Cross and began to attack in groups of twos and threes. Each time Cross would send out his darkness as he dodged their attacks and would destroy them. Finally the last ten attacked at once, and Cross did the first thing that came to mind. He called up a bubble of darkness around him and consumed all the golems with it. After which he stood in the small crater of his creation.

They were back in the main room of the apartment inside of the wall and Aang was outlining a plan to infiltrate the camp he had discovered the night before while scouting. He had it sketched out on a map in front of him with some of the locations marked. What looked like a leaders tent was set in the direct center of the camp, with riding animals on the western point, Hills blocking the immediate north and south of the camp, and an open entry to the east. Making the east point of the camp the most heavily guarded. So Aang proposed that they move in two separate groups, with Katara, Toph, and him coming in from the east; and the rest coming in from the west. Thus making the eastern group distractions, and the western group saboteurs; with them all meeting in the center.

They attacked at nightfall of the next night. The group had moved up to the hills on the northern edge during the day using a fog bank as cover, then hid there until twilight. As the sun set they moved into position. Then they waited for the sentries to switch with the night shift before beginning. Cross was in the western group and had both his swords ready as they began the attack. The idea was to take out the sentries quietly, sneak in, release the animals, and cause as much wanton destruction as possible without hurting people. They started by going along the line of sentries one by one with either Sokka, Cross, or Suki knocking them out, and Anara shackling them to the ground so they wouldn't be able to join the fight after they awoke. Cross then ran along the animal lines cutting the ropes that held them, and after Sokka gave a few of them judicious whacks on their rears with the flat of his blade, they began fleeing from the camp. As this was happening, the opposite side of the camp sounded like a natural disaster with the combined strength of Katara, Aang, and Toph all bending.

Using the distraction to their upmost advantage, the saboteurs moved in to do more damage. By this point all of the soldiers that occupied this side of the camp had moved to the fighting on the opposite side leaving it wide open. Cross and Anara started cutting down tents while Suki and Sokka went to the water supply and dropped some small round objects in. Sokka had explained them earlier, calling them Sickonators, which he had created with the same scientist that had reinvented Aangs glider. They would make anyone who drank the water sick for at least the next week, although the sickness was nowhere near fatal, just incapacitating. With that completed, they moved towards the center of the camp where there was a large tent set up. This tent seemed to be a strange accessory for a guerilla group such as this; the sheer size would make it extremely difficult to transfer. It could only be a hindrance.

As they moved closer to the tent, one of the flaps opened and a disheveled woman emerged from its depths. "Who dares awaken me from my slumber!' She screamed, her voice screeching like nails on a chalkboard. Then she saw them coming towards her, and a ball up blue fire appeared in her hand…

_Wooh! Cliffhanger! _

_I have to admit, I love cliffhangers. Sorry this took so long after my prediction, after completing the first half of the chapter, I had a bad case of writers block, which once finished became a bad case of family issues. But I stayed up tonight to update it, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. Remember to review, they bring me motivation. I also have a Legend of Zelda story idea stuck in my head, so that may appear soon too. Hope you like it so far,_

_T. Riley_


	4. The Wielder of Blue Flame

_Disclaimer: …Blah_

_Alright, I'm back. Writers block is an evil, evil thing. But I know what to do. _

_A couple notes. One, I was asked to do shorter chapters, so I'll try to find a happy medium with that (since I like longer chapters…) and two, I shall now incorporate linebreaks like this…_

_Hopefully that works. I started that Legend of Zelda idea that I mentioned in the previous chapter, so hopefully you guys check that out as well. Well, read and enjoy, on to fun times with the wielder of blue flame._

_-(linebreak thingy)-_

**Chapter 4: The Wielder of Blue Flame**

Cross stared in disbelief at the woman in front of him. She would have been considered beautiful but for the ragged disheveled haircut and smeared makeup on her face. Then as he looked closer, he noticed the scars on her arms and face, and the odd luster in her light brown eyes; the madness of her smile and the odor that seemed to exude from her, not to mention the eerie light of her blue flame.

"Azula" Sokka gasped at his side.

"Ah, so you remember me little water nation brat. Then you probably know what my horrid brother and that wretch you call a sister did to me, don't you. Well then, I'll get revenge for that, and for what the Avatar did to my father, the Phoenix King Ozai." She drawled with that eerie smile on her face, as if she were enjoying the images of her madness. "And the revenge shall start with this pretty Kyoshi warrior that you hold so dear!" She yelled as she flung the ball of flame at Suki.

Before anyone else could react, Sokka jumped into the path of the flame and took a hit straight to the gut. Cross could only watch as Sokka flew back from the blast, into Suki. They both flew back into a pile of crates behind them, leaving Cross and Anara standing alone against the fallen Fire Nation princess.

"That's enough," declared Cross as he stepped forward, "you will hurt people no longer. You are the one who organized the raid on my village, and I cannot let that go. repent for the lives you have taken!"

"Repent? Hah, who do you think I am boy; I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. I do not care about those measly lives; and if you wish to blame anyone, blame yourself. The troops were sent there to kill you, every villager that died that day is because of you. Your very existence kills those around you. But my men were unable to kill you it seems, therefore I shall do so myself." Another ball of blue flame was sent flying at Cross as she spoke. He quickly responded by dodging to the side and deflecting the flame with the tip of his sword.

"Those lives were not in his hands, but their deaths are on yours!" Cross heard from behind as a block of earth went flying towards Azula's head. Anara had attacked while Azula had had her full attention on Cross.

The block of earth shattered in a blast of blue flame, "silly girl hasn't anyone ever taught you not to interrupt conversations." As Azula said this, she quickly brought her arm down sending a wave of flame at Anara. Cross rapidly called out a wall of darkness to absorb the wave of fire and steps between the two women.

"Anara, go find the others, I'll hold her off." He said as he looked at his opponent.

"So you have awakened, bender of the fifth element. I now have even more reason to kill you. It is time for you to die!" She began firing balls of flame at him with these words and the battle ensued. Every time she shot flame at him, he would counter with darkness, and for every wave of darkness sent her way, she would dodge or feed with flame until it dissipated. The battle almost looked like a dance with both combatants responding to each other's movements. For every attack, there was a dodge and a counter, for every counter a block. Then Azula began to charge her power to use her most fatal attack. Cross could sense the buildup of her energy and started gathering in his own for a massive strike. As Azula called fearsome lightning from the skies, a circle of darkness surrounded his hands. Both attacks shot towards each other, meeting in the center of the scarred battleground. Then the lightning was absorbed into the darkness until there was only a pinpoint of darkness left flying towards Azula. She screamed as a came mere inches from her face before dissipating. After that display, there was an edge of fear in her eyes, but she acted calm.

"Just you wait scum, all is not gone just yet. You still haven't met you brother." She declared before leaping into a waiting blimp above.

-[hello, this is a line break right after a cliff hanger, how cliché right? Oh well, end chapter. ]-

_So, I come to you again, this time with a shorter chapter… And seeing as its five in the morning my time, I shall now sleep. I hope you guys liked it, I'll try to put more soon. Along with that LOZ story hopefully…_


	5. Seperate Ways

_Disclaimer: No own Avatar, only OCs_

**Chapter 5: Separate Ways**

After the fight, the group had returned to the Wall to recuperate and discuss further plans. Cross, Anara, Toph, and Aang were in the main room while Katara and Suki were in one of the side rooms where Sokka was being healed. Cross and Aang were discussing options for what should be done next, because even though they had incapacitated this part of the group, Azula was still able to escape in the end. Every time an option was thrown out though, it was rejected until they came to the conclusion that they just didn't have enough information. They didn't know what resources Azula had left to call on, and they didn't know where her chief camp of operations was. Without this information, they were unable to make a move. That's when Katara came in.

"Oh, Katara, how's Sokka?" Aang asked as she came in the room.

"He'll be fine after a good night's sleep, Suki is watching over him now." She replied as she sat down near Aang. "What's going on in here?" Aang quickly outlined the previous conversation and their opinion that they couldn't do anything without more information. Katara thought for a moment before making a suggestion, "What if we ask Zuko for help? Not only does he know Azula better than any of us, but he also knows the people who might still be loyal to his father. He may be able to point us in the right direction in regards to where she could be hiding." Aang was nodding as she said this, wondering why he hadn't thought of this himself when another idea hit him.

"We could also go see his uncle Iroh, he still runs that tea shop in Ba Sing Sei. He has contacts in the White Lotus Society that might be able to help with this. Also, his advice and experience would be invaluable in this, let's see if he will help."

"That's a good plan also, so we should stop by the tea shop, and then head to the fire nation?" Katara asked.

"we would, but there's a problem. Appa wouldn't be able to carry us all for long distances. It was fine for a small amount of time during the raid, but we wouldn't be able to get to the Fire Nation like this. We also can't go without Cross and Anara, not only have they become involved, but they also possess skills that would be invaluable to us." Aang answered.

Then Cross spoke up, "What if we went to this Iroh person for you, then met you in the fire nation. You guys will get there a lot quicker on Appa, and will have some of the information by the time we arrive. All that we'll have to do is figure out how we're going to get from Ba Sing Sei to the city of the Fire Lord."

"That part is easily covered also," said Katara, "when you leave Ba Sing Sei, take the Earth Rail to Port Town, and once you get there we'll have a ship ready for you. Take the ship to the fire nation capital, and meet us at the Firelord's palace. The ship's captain will know where to go and have full access for getting you guys in just in case."

"It's settled then, we'll ride Appa, while Cross and Anara go talk to Iroh. We leave tomorrow morning then." Aang finished.

-[Linebreak]-

The next morning, the party said quiet farewells as they parted from each other; Aang and the rest had walked Cross and Anara down to the Earth train that led into Ba Sing Sei. As they said their goodbyes, Aang gave Cross a note that would explain the situation to Iroh. With the note in hand and departure whistles blowing around them, Cross and Anara boarded the train to Ba Sing Sei. The earthbenders began to push the train down the tracks, and promptly had it moving at high speeds across the countryside. At first they sat in silence, just watching the countryside pass by through the opposite window. The sound of the earth moving was the only accompaniment to their ride. Then Anara spoke.

"Cross, what should we do about the village?" She asked him.

He had been bothered by the village since the beginning. From what Azula had said, the attack on the village had only happened because he had lived there. All those lives that had been taken were because of his existence. All of the pain and misery caused by Phoenix Rising in this area was because of him. How could he atone for that?

Anara saw the change in his eyes, and before he could respond she said, "You blame yourself for what happened don't you, well you had better stop. No one else blames you. No one can blame you for existing. No one can fault any of your actions during the raid. And you had no idea that anyone could be after you for possessing a power that has never shown itself before this. If anyone is to blame for this, it's that blue-fire wielding witch!" The last line was said with such vehemence that Cross was startled. Not to mention the fact that Anara had effectively countered his every argument before he could even utter a single syllable on the matter. Cross sighed and gave her a grateful smile for her encouragement.

"Don't worry about the village, the Avatar contacted the earth king about it and gave him some of the details. They haven't mentioned my abilities as of yet; they don't want to surprise anyone to soon. He seems to think that some of the nobles of the Earth Kingdom wouldn't be too happy to know that someone with my abilities existed, and I have to agree, just look at how Toph reacted." Said Cross thinking of the shocked expression on Toph's face after he had used his power. "I was also asked by Aang to keep use of my element to a minimum for the sake of secrecy."

"Ok, so we're just heading for the Jade Dragon tea shop?"

"That's the plan."

-[Linebreak]-

Azula opened the door to the darkened room, casting light from the hall onto the carpeted floor. Something moved on the bed in the far corner and golden eyes opened to stare at her. How she hated those eyes, they radiated a light of their own, and she felt as if they could see right down to her core. Those eyes brought her into a subjugation she despised; those eyes are what bound her to his will. Her only fear, those shining golden eyes. They beckoned her into the room, and she closed the door behind her, fearing what would come next. Her master waited patiently for her message.

She finally found the will to speak, "Master, I thought you should now, your brother is alive…"

-[And Cut. Good job guys, now get off of my set!]-

_Sorry it took me so long, Between my new job and college, it gets kind of hectic… Sorry._


End file.
